Titanium
by That Guy Who Ships Niff
Summary: AU season 2 (the bus crash never happened, but all season 1 events remain intact): Cassidy befriends the new kid in school, Joel, who turns out to have more problems than anyone ever thought, but the closeted Cassidy finds himself falling for the openly gay Joel and chaos ensues. Slash: Cassidy/OC.


_**A/N**_: Okay, re-posting this because I really like this rewrite more and I hope you guys like it too. Please, please, please leave reviews and tell me what you think.

* * *

Cassidy Casablancas sat in the Journalism classroom, his older brother Dick to his left chatting it up with Luke Haldeman, one of his 09er friends. He looked to his right where Veronica Mars and Duncan Kane were whispering sweet nothings to one another. Cassidy rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair. Ms. Bent was busy trying to keep Logan Echolls and some of the PCHers from jumping each other. Logan was always getting into trouble, especially now since his father killed his ex-girlfriend.

"Class," Ms. Bent called. "Can I have your attention please?" Cassidy looked up from his cell phone to see a mousy brown-haired boy standing next to the teacher. The kid looked nervous and was clutching his backpack. _He'll get eaten alive here_, Cassidy thought.

"Everyone, this is Joel Richardson," Ms. Bent said, gesturing to the boy. "He just transferred here from Redwood High School in Larkspur. Would you like to tell us anything about yourself, Joel?"

"Um, hi, everyone," he said softly. "I guess I just should say this now because I know high school is hard and it's about to get harder when I say this, but…" he took a deep, shuddering breath, "I'm gay and I just hope people are more accepting here than at my old school."

"Faggot," someone muttered. Joel turned red, but ignored it.

"Okay, well, welcome to Neptune High, Joel. You can sit there between Dick and Cassidy." Ms. Bent pointed to the open seat. Joel walked over and put his backpack down.

"Hey, new kid," Dick whispered. Luke nudged him and whispered something in his ear. "So you like sucking cock, huh?"

"Dick, leave him alone," Cassidy said, shaking his head. "He doesn't need to be subject to your stupidity right off the bat."

"I can take care of this." Joel nodded to Cassidy and turned back to the grinning 09ers. "You guys seem like the baseball player type. Am I right?" Dick and Luke nodded. "So which one of you pitches and which one of you catches?"

"You little…" Luke stood up and made a move towards Joel, who smirked. Dick put a hand in front of Luke, stopping him.

"Not here, dude. You can get him later," Dick muttered. Luke sat down, glaring daggers at Joel.

"Let me guess, the whole nervous new kid thing is an act?" Cassidy whispered to Joel.

"What do you mean?" Joel suddenly had an innocent face on. "I'm not that kind of guy. I don't drink or do drugs." He pulled something from his back pocket. "Hey, Cass, you want to go to a bar tonight?"

"How do you do that? One second, you're all innocent; the next, you're evil." Cassidy marveled at Joel's abilities.

"I'm an actor, duh," Joel said. "So, you want to go to that bar or maybe my place? My stepbrother's in LA for a film he's working on, so I have the place to myself."

"I barely know you." Cassidy looked at Joel warily. "How do I know you're not some kind of serial killer?"

The bell rang and Joel stood up, grabbing his bag. Luke shoved Joel backwards on his way out and Duncan caught him.

"Whoa, you okay there?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks," Joel replied.

"I'm Duncan and this is my girlfriend Veronica," Duncan said. "You're Joel, right?" Joel nodded. "Don't worry about Dick or Luke. They're just assholes."

"They're not the first I've encountered," Joel said, smiling.

"Good luck here," Veronica said, clutching Duncan's hand. "You ever need anything, come find us."

"Thanks." Joel followed Cassidy to his next class, which was also Joel's.

* * *

Joel and Cassidy sat together during lunch. Joel picked at the lump of the so-called lasagna on his tray and sighed.

"You okay, Joel?" Cassidy looked up from his iPhone.

"Mm-hmm," Joel muttered. A strong hand picked him up by the collar and he turned to see Luke sneering at him. "Hey, how's it going?"

"Don't try that bashful schoolboy shit with me," Luke snapped. "Now is the time to pay for your smart mouth, queer."

"Luke, let him go." Cassidy tried to intervene, but Dick grabbed his brother and held him back.

"Little bro, don't get into this. Luke's pissed and I don't mean normal pissed, I mean 'don't fuck with him in any way whatsoever' pissed," Dick advised. Cassidy bit his lip and sat down.

"So where'd you come from?" Luke asked in a calm voice.

"Weren't you listening to Ms. Bent? I'm from Larkspur. It's like six and a half hours south of here," Joel replied.

"Why'd you come to Neptune?"

"I needed a fresh start," Joel said.

"From what?"

"I-I don't want to talk about that." Joel's eyes were downcast. "Look, I'm sorry I made fun of you. Just let me go, okay?" Luke eyed Joel and released him.

"Just watch your mouth, got it?" Joel nodded. Luke and Dick walked off to the 09er table.

"Hey, Joel, do you want to hang out after school?" Cassidy spoke up a few minutes later.

"Sure. You want to come over? It's quiet where I live." Joel didn't look up.

"Yeah, okay, you want to ride with me?" Cassidy asked.

"Yeah, if that's okay, I mean, I don't want to burden you. My car's in the shop," Joel elaborated.

"No, it's fine. Just wait out in the parking lot after school, okay?" Joel nodded.

* * *

Joel stood next to the front door a few minutes after the last bell rang. His eyes were darting around cautiously, making sure there were no surprise attacks on him.

"Hey, Joel," a voice called out. Joel looked up to see a tall boy from his Journalism class. "I'm Logan, Logan Echolls. I just figured to come introduce myself. I'm sorry about Dick and Luke. They're not the sharpest tools in the shed. But if you want to hang out with someone who knows this hellhole like the back of his hand, I'm the guy."

"Thanks, Logan," he said softly. "I'm actually waiting for Cassidy."

"Casablancas?" Joel shrugged. "You know he's Dick's younger brother, right?"

"He is?" Logan nodded. "Hmm, he doesn't seem to take after his brother. That's a good thing."

"Yeah, Beaver, he's sensitive, I guess you could say," Logan said.

"Beaver?"

"It's his nickname. Dick's been calling him that since they were kids and the name just stuck," Logan explained. A silver Prius pulled up to Joel and Cassidy honked.

"Hey, Joel, Logan," he grinned.

"Hey, Beav. You two have fun whatever you're doing," Logan said before walking away. "See you later." Joel waved and got into the passenger side.

"So where do you live? I'll GPS it."

"Here, let me type it in." Joel did so and placed the gadget on the dashboard.

"_Head three miles west on Thomas Road_," the electronic voice said.


End file.
